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Dr. Robert Vianello published an article entitled "Advances in Determining the Absolute Proton Affinities of Neutral Organic Molecules in the Gas Phase and Their Interpretation: A Theoretical Account" in the Chemical Reviews. With an impact factor of 40.197, the later journal is convincingly ranked as the most prestigious scientific journal in chemistry, and the fifth overall in the world according to that criterion.
Dr. Robert Vianello, senior research associate at the Ruđer Bošković Institute ( http://www.irb.hr/eng/People/Robert-Vianello), published an article entitled "Advances in Determining the Absolute Proton Affinities of Neutral Organic Molecules in the Gas Phase and Their Interpretation: A Theoretical Account" in the Chemical Reviews ( http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cr100458v). With an impact factor of 40.197, the later journal is convincingly ranked as the most prestigious scientific journal in chemistry, and the fifth overall in the world according to that criterion.
Together with his colleagues, Dr. Borislav Kovačević and late Prof. Zvonimir Maksić, this paper presents an overview of a decade of research conducted in the Quantum Organic Chemistry Group of the Ruđer Bošković Institute, together with the survey of the literature encompassing topics such as the interpretation of proton transfer reactions, the investigation of the properties of hydrogen bonded systems, as well as the computational design of novel exceptionally strong organic superacids and superbases. Understanding proton transfer reactions is of paramount importance in chemistry, because processes involving accepting or donating a proton – smallest, lightest and most abundant atomic nucleus in the Universe – represent the most fundamental chemical reactions, often signifying the incipient step of a large variety of organic and biochemical transformations. On the other hand, the prediction and development of increasingly potent organic acids and bases contributes to all aspects of chemical industry, since these molecules embody the most important and irreplaceable catalysts in many chemical processes.
Significant portion of the results presented in the mentioned article includes those accomplished by Dr. Vianello during his project "Computational Prediction of Structure and Catalytic Activity of New Organic Superacids” financed by the Unity through Knowledge Fund ( http://spider.irb.hr/Vianello_UKF/) within the first call for proposals “My First Research Topic Grant” under the Young Researchers and Professionals Program in 2008, and co-financed by the industrial partner APO Ltd. Zagreb. During two years of project realization (2008–2010), Dr. Vianello published five papers, gave four invited talks and two poster presentations at international conferences, and held five popular lectures at domestic events about his results. For his achievements he received the "Promising Scientist" prize of the Centre for the Applied Quantum Mechanics in Paris. After the termination of his UKF project, Dr. Vianello assured continuation of his research by obtaining funds from the European Commission in Brussels through an individual FP7 Marie Curie fellowship for career development for his 18 months stay in the group of Dr. Janez Mavri at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana. |
